Making Music with Sammy Tweedy
Indie musician and songwriter Sammy Tweedy’s recent single, “Complete Picture,” is a mixture of dark moody synths, mesmerizing off-kilter drums, and poignant lyrical vignettes. In this interview with Leah Dunn, which has been edited for length and clarity, Tweedy talks Tel Aviv, summer camp, rabbinic discourse, modular synthesis and making music with family.
Leah Dunn: I know you’re back home right now in Chicago after having recently moved to Tel Aviv. Did you have a favorite part about living in Tel Aviv?
Sammy Tweedy: Yeah, my favorite part about living in Tel Aviv is that when I am surrounded mostly by Jews I just feel a little bit more understood. In the sense that the qualities that get me made fun of, especially growing up in day to day spaces, are recognized and honored in spaces where there are mostly Jewish spaces. I’m less weird and more unique.
LD: What’s an example of that?
ST: I think growing up I was always a little strident, maybe politically, in school and in spaces that aren't explicitly Jewish. That was looked at with a lot of skepticism, distrust, and distaste. Some of that is reasonable because why was I so strident as a 14 year old? But at summer camp and around Jewish people I found that I was listened to. People thought that my passion made me an authority on the subject and not someone to be ridiculed.
LD: Did you grow up going to Jewish summer camp?
ST: Yeah, I went to Jewish summer camp for nine years, and came back as the music director for one year.
LD: Which camp did you go to?
ST: Beber Camp in Mukwonago, Wisconsin.
LD: Very cool. While we are on the topic of Jewish life, what has your relationship with Judaism been like, and how has it changed over time?
ST: I had the really common Jewish American experience of going through the Bar Mitzvah process and then wanting to stay away from religious life for a while. I just didn’t like being religiously Jewish. And then I think I reconnected with it in college, actually because of how much antisemitism I was seeing, experiencing, and feeling. I think, interestingly, that is also how I connected with it as a kid. My parents underscored Judaism’s importance with how often people have tried to exterminate us, so I thought I at least have to do this Bar Mitzvah stuff. Because what is the point of being Jewish if I'm going to not be Jewish? So I had that thought process as a kid, and then thought I’ve done my time for a while. I came back closer to Judaism after visiting Israel. I was criticized solely because I visited the country. I just found it very hypocritical and antisemitic because it is denying the Jewish connection to Israel at all. So I came back much closer to Judaism, mostly politically but also spiritually, because I encountered that opposition.
LD: On a more positive note, what would you say is your favorite Jewish ritual, aspect of Jewish identity, or religion?
ST: My favorite Jewish ritual is deep reflection. Every people has that. But I like the discourse of Judaism, and the fact that we have more-or-less sacred texts that are just debates between Rabbis. It’s how I communicate with people when I’m communicating most truly, with my family or the people closest to me. It takes that form of a Rabbinic dialogue sometimes. So that’s what I like about Judaism is the deep consideration of things that other people might even consider to be mundane.
LD: That’s a great answer. Do you feel like that style of discourse plays a role in your songwriting or any of the music that you make?
ST: I mean how could it not? I don’t think I’m sitting down and making something that is consciously Jewish. But I think that when someone’s personal history is so informed by their experiences with Judaism, like the Coen Brothers come to mind—their movies aren’t Jewish but at the same time they totally are—you cannot separate Judaism from them. So I think it is the same thing with me.
LD: So your latest song, “Complete Picture,” is fantastic. I loved it. I especially liked the long intro, and the shift from the dark ambient mood into the verses where drums come in. I also noticed you had some earlier releases on your Bandcamp with more instrumental, ambient pieces, and lots of use of modular synths. So what draws you to this style and soundscape?
ST: I think I was intimidated by learning instruments because my Dad and my brother have already got the instrument thing covered. And obviously the synthesizer is an instrument, but I started with modular synthesis because it is not really associated with a keyboard. It is the most revolutionary because it ditches the keyboard and it is just about the signals, and you control them with wires. I thought that it seemed very fun. And it is! I also learned how to play guitar, but that’s why I started with the synth because it is limitless. Honestly, the answer is just because it’s fun. I like sound, and it’s the best thing to do if you like sound. It’s how sound is generated in general. Sound waves are just complex oscillations. So synthesis is something fundamental, and that’s what I like about it.
LD: Also, I want to draw attention to the lyricism in “Complete Picture.” There’s great specific imagery that somehow stays vague enough to apply to anything. Do you have a favorite lyric from the song that you want to highlight?
ST: I think the obvious one to do would be the one about sirens. That is me dealing with my experiences in Tel Aviv. It’s good to let the vagueness remain with lyrics so they can mean what they mean to people. But for me that line felt emotional to write. We are still in the thick of the war, and a lot of people haven’t experienced what it is like to be in Israel while it is being attacked by Hamas. I think that experience can oftentimes be dismissed. But every single rocket fired at civilians is a war crime. So that line was helpful to be able to write, to deal with those feelings. The sound of the sirens themselves are just really scary, and this line is about calming my nerves, providing my own refuge.
LD: How long ago did you write the song?
ST: It was a 3 part process. The music for the song I played on a synthesizer, just the drum loop and the music, was about 3 years ago. And then this summer, my dad and my brother and then engineer at the loft helped make sense of the loop. Spencer, my brother played drums on it, and my dad played bass on it. So the instrumental of the current song was made this summer. And then less than a week ago, me and my friend Jonah came to my room and in one night from 11pm - 7am we finished the song. We recorded all the vocals and mixed it a little bit.
LD: Do you make a lot of music with your family?
ST: I do, but I’d like to do it more. With my dad, it is stuff that he writes usually, and my brother is a very busy man, so I end up making a lot of music by myself. But when I get to make music with my brother, who is usually who I collaborate with, I love it.
LD: What was the main synth you used for the song?
ST: I used my dad’s Moog One. It is kind of the best synthesizer of all time.
LD: Of course! So what is next for the Sammy Tweedy artist project? Can we expect more releases soon?
ST: I’m not done. This is what I’d like to do, and I assure you I have a lot more where that came from.
